Two Book Reports

Julian Comstock by Robert Charles Wilson is a dystopian science fiction which begins in the year 2172. The apocolypse that led to this distopia was the end of oil. The end of the "Efflorescence of Oil" as the novel's history puts it. That led to a collapse of modern food production and transportation. Starvation and disease reduced human population dramatically, technology regressed to late 19th century-ish.

A religious elite grabbed power in the United States, establishing "the Dominion of Jesus Christ on Earth" as a branch of government. Society has stratified itself into an aristocratic class that controls wealth and production, an indentured class owned by the aristocrats and a leasing class of free citizens who don't actually own any property. The Supreme Court was abolished by Constitutional Amendment. The Presidency remains nominally an elected position, but in actuality an inherited one. The borders of the country extend from the Panama Canal (recently taken from the Brazilians) to Northern Canada, except for the Northeastern provinces which control the Northwest passage. The USA has been fighting a decades long war against the "Dutch" (shorthand for German controlled Europe) to retake those territories.

Julian is an aristocrat, 17 year old nephew of President Deklan Comstock. Percieving Julian's father as a threat to his own control of the Presidency, Deklan sent his brother fight the Brazilians for the Panama Canal. Instead of conveniently dying in the conflict, Julian's father is victorious, returns as a hero and is subsequently accused of treason by Deklan and hanged. To protect Julian from Deklan, his mother took him to a remote town called Williams Ford and assigned a very capable man named Sam Godwin to be Julian's protector and mentor.

In Williams Ford, Julian befriends Adam Hazzard, a young man his own age of the leasing class. Adam aspires to become an author and the story is told from his perspective. He writes an account of how he and Julian were swept up into the War, how Julian became a war hero and what the man behind the hero was like.

It's a fascinating story. The characters develop quite naturally from the narrative. They are fun and engaging. The story is thought provoking. There are themes of human nature of the role religion plays for us of love and family. I enjoyed the book immensely and now have to look for more books by Mr. Wilson.

The second book, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O'brien is one I read when I was in grade school. Several times because I loved it so much. Tabby & I took a break from reading Redwall novels to read this one.

Mrs. Frisby is a mouse with a problem. Her son, Timothy, is very ill. Old Mr. Ages, a wise mouse, was able to concot a medicine for Timothy. He begins to recover, but can't leave the Frisby's sheltered home until the cool Spring weather turns warm or he risks falling ill again and not being able to recover. But the family must move. Farmer Fitzgibbon will soon plow the field where the family lives, destroying their home and surely killing anyone in it.

Through a series of events, an owl advises Mrs. Frisby to seek the help of the mysterious rats who live under the rosebush near the Fitzgibbon's home. She finds that they can, indeed, help her and they are willing to because of how her own family is tied up in their own fascinating tale.

It has been decades since I last read the book and it is every bit as awesome as I remember it being as a little boy. It is imaginative, thought provoking, a morality tale of what it means to be productive and good. And it is fun to read. It is no wonder it won a Hugo award.

Tabby loved it too.